


You're Somebody Else

by thewolvesrunwild



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Relationship Study, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 10:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16891143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewolvesrunwild/pseuds/thewolvesrunwild
Summary: The Mighty Nein have been reunited with an old friend. But to Yasha, the reunion is more bitter than sweet.She looked over and met his eyes. If this had been Molly, he might have taken comfort in the hand she placed on his shoulder. But this was someone else, and she could feel him freeze under her touch.





	You're Somebody Else

**Author's Note:**

> Title and insperation for this fic comes from the song "You're Somebody Else" by flora cash.  
> [youtu.be/qVdPh2cBTN0 ](https://youtu.be/qVdPh2cBTN0)
> 
> I love my wife Yasha and her best friend Mollymauk so much and actually ended up writing this as a way to procrastinate having to listen to episode 26. I had spoiled enough for myself that I didn't actually have to change that much of the fic once I had finally gotten well past episode 27.

They found him in the same place they had lost Molly. The group had returned to see Caduceus off, armed with new knowledge to save his home. And he had just been there, in a nearby farming village, wearing the very coat that used to mark Mollymauk's grave. Yasha almost wished for storm clouds so she wouldn't have to face him. But she knew if she let it faster for too long, it would only be that much worse.

Yasha slowly sat down next to the purple skinned tiefling a bit further off from where the party was making camp for the night. The rest of the group was joking around in high spirits but kept out of earshot of the two, respectfully giving them a moment to themselves.

He gave her an easy smile as she took her place next to him, but she had seen that smile too often directed at patrons to trust it. She remembered how he had acted when Cree recognized him. She knew he was acting now.

“The one with the blue ribbon is Beau,” she began to say, in a low, hushed voice. “Her full name is Beauregard but only Caleb really uses that. You two got into fights sometimes and called each other “asshole” but it was all in good fun.” She wove the grass before her into a braid, looking at her companion out of the corner of her eye.

The tiefling next to her no longer had that easy smile on his face. His expression said poliet interest but his twitching tail said fear.

“We were in the circus together for eight months after I came to the Empire from Xhorhas,” she continued. “You had been in the circus for a little more than a year before that. You joined right after crawling out of your own grave with no memory.”

She looked over and met his eyes. If this had been Molly, he might have taken comfort in the hand she placed on his shoulder. But this was someone else, and she could feel him freeze under her touch.

“I, uh-” he stammered.

She took back her arm.

“I'm surprised the group didn't realize, considering you, or rather, Molly, had told them that when you met up with someone from your previous life. I would have thought Caleb would have noticed, or maybe Nott. Caleb is the dirty one with the long coat. He's very smart and obsessed with books. Nott's his goblin friend. She's very protective of him and suspicious of nearly everyone we meet. If anyone was going to question you about not being Molly, it would have been them.”

The tiefling nodded and so she continued.

“Jester is the blue one. She's very bubbly, and very strong. She draws in her notebook to talk with her god, The Traveler. She's a very good healer as well. Fjord is the half-orc. Molly would share a room with him when we were able to stay at an inn for the night. They both bonded over their magical swords. He can summon his and it's always dripping with sea water. He also used to be a seaman.”

Her companion snorted and ducked his head to hide his smile. She smiled too as she looked over their group of misfits. They were as much, if not more, of a family to her as the circus had been. Losing Molly had been incredibly hard. He was the first person she had meet in the Empire (and perhaps anywhere, if she was being truthful with herself) who had looked at her with a genuine smile. One that reached his eyes, as if he could see everything she was and liked all of it without qualm.

_“The name’s Mollymauk. Molly to my friends. And what’s your name, friend?”_

_“Yasha.”_

_“Well, Yasha, care for a card reading?”_

She shook her head slightly to dislodge the memory before it could go much further. Molly had proceeded to fake the card reading, and gotten Gustave to give her a home and a family. He had found this new family for her too. She had no idea when she walked into that tavern that she would be meeting people so important to her life.

She enjoyed casually using her strength for fun with Jester. She enjoyed the awkward conversations with Beau, who could say one thing but intend something else. She enjoyed Fjord’s determination to keep them all honest and fair even as the group’s more chaotic members tried his patience. She enjoyed quiet silence with Caleb and their conversations in Celestial, helping her understand more of who she was. She enjoyed picking flowers with Nott as they both allowed themselves to have nice things and softness in their otherwise sharp and cruel worlds.

She missed Molly dearly. She missed his cheerful attitude when they got ready to set out in the morning. She missed his glowing blades watching their party’s back in battle. She missed the way he made a beeline to the nearest tavern to celebrate a job well done, or to lift their spirits after a job that could have gone better. She missed his energy. She missed his life. She missed a chance to say goodbye.

She never missed him more than when the imposter looked her in the eye with Molly’s face and remembered nothing about her.

But it was not the imposter’s fault. He did not ask for this.

“I won't tell them you're not who they think you are if you don't want me to,” she said somberly, in a softer voice than even the one she used to describe her family to him. “I won’t call you Molly either if that’s not the name you’ve chosen for yourself.”

The tiefling beside her swallowed nervously before answering.

“Actually, Molly is what I was calling myself,” he said. At Yasha’s curious glance he continued, “The woman who found me, after I came to I suppose, told me that all I would say for the first week or so after she found me was the word ‘family’. But there was a note, pinned to my shirt, that said my name was Mollymauk and I should try to find the Mighty Nein through The Gentleman. And well, I couldn't remember who The Gentleman was so I couldn't really do that. But you all found me in the end, yeah?” He paused and looked down at his hands, slowly shuffling the tarot deck that Jester had returned to him. As he moved the cards, one slipped out and fell to the ground, face up. A tiefling woman in a crown and blue robes stat in front of two stone pillars, one black and one white, and at her feet was the crescent moon. He retrieved the card and said, “I may not remember who I was, but I want to.”

Molly looked at her and smiled. It wasn’t a fake one, meant to hide secrets, but a hopeful one.

“Molly didn’t want to remember who Lucien- his past self was,” she said. “He didn't want to remember his past at all.”

“Maybe Lucien didn’t want to _be_ himself anymore,” Molly respond. “Maybe he didn’t have people he wanted to remember and come back to. Maybe forgetting was for the best. And maybe I don’t remember all of you but _I_ _want to_.” There was so much conviction in his voice that Yasha would never even consider doubting his words.

They sat in silence and watched the rest of the group. Beau and Jester had gotten into a contest of who could carry the most firewood. Fjord and Nott were arguing over what rations they could use to prepare the best meal. Caleb was petting Frumpkin and being the worst ever judge of Beau and Jester’s contest.

“If you want to remember, we’ll have to tell the rest of the group. Caleb or Jester might have an idea of how to get your memories back with magic,” she eventually said. “And even if they don’t we will all help find a way to help.”

They looked at each other and shared small, hopeful smiles.

“Thank you, Yasha.”

“Of course, Molly.”

**Author's Note:**

> The card that falls out of the deck is The High Priestess. "She shows up in your Tarot readings when the veil between you and the underworld is thin, and you have the opportunity to access the knowledge deep within your soul." I felt that card was appropriate for Molly finding his family and having the chance to regain his memory.


End file.
